Press Release

FieldTurf Announces 2012 FieldTurf Baseball Awards

Chicago, IL, January 05, 2013 --(PR.com)-- FieldTurf announced the winners of the 7th annual FieldTurf Baseball Awards for 2012 today. Award-winners were named in four categories, including two NCAA Coach of the Year winners, one NCAA Team of the Year winner, and the MLB Team of the Year.This year’s winners are:

MLB Team of the Year – Detroit TigersNCAA Division I Coach of the Year – George Horton, University of OregonNCAA Division II Coach of the Year – Jad Prachniak, West Chester UniversityNCAA Team of the Year – University of Arizona

Detroit Tigers (MLB Team of the Year) – In 2012, the Tigers clinched the AL Central title, the club's first repeat title since 1934–1935. They finished the regular season 88–74 and had quite a run in the post season. They defeated the Oakland Athletics in the American League Divisional Series, 3 games to 2. It was the Tigers' second consecutive ALDS win. The Tigers went on to sweep the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series before finishing as the runner-up in the World Series to the San Francisco Giants.

George Horton (University of Oregon) – Oregon is coming off its most successful campaign since the program was reinstated in 2009, including the Ducks' appearance in the NCAA Super Regional, hosted at PK Park in Eugene. UO placed third in the Pac-12 while establishing a school record for wins, going 46-19 overall.

Jad Prachniak (West Chester University) – Ninth-ranked West Chester University shut out second-ranked Delta State, 9-0, to claim its first NCAA Division II college baseball national championship in 2012. The Golden Rams went 4-0 in the Atlantic Regional and duplicated that performance in Cary, N.C. at the College World Series, knocking off Chico State, Southern New Hampshire, Catawba and Delta State, respectively. They ended the 2012 season with a 12-game winning streak and tied the school record for most wins in a single season (46).

University of Arizona (NCAA Team of the Year) – It was quite a season for the University of Arizona baseball team in 2012. Winning the most games of any Wildcats baseball team for a single season since 1989, the University of Arizona captured its first baseball national title since 1986 with a two-game sweep of two-time defending champion South Carolina in the College World Series finals.

The FieldTurf Coach of the Year Awards recognize a coach’s dedication and hard work both on and off the field. The coaches that have been and will be selected for this award all exemplify outstanding leadership skills and enjoy well-deserved success. Special attention is given to coaches who are able to significantly improve their team’s effort, performance, and overall record from previous years along with coaches who enjoy success with young and inexperienced teams.

The FieldTurf Team of the Year Awards acknowledge teams at all levels of sport that show a passion for the game along with dedication to team play. The teams that will be selected for this award will be teams that have enjoyed success and/or made considerable improvements from previous years within their respective leagues.

About FieldTurf

FieldTurf offers industry-leading engineering and manufacturing resources and leads the synthetic turf industry with regard to setting higher environmental standards. FieldTurf is the global market leader in terms of synthetic sports fields with more than 7000 fields installed. Additionally, FieldTurf has attained more than 20,000 satisfied customers in high quality pet, residential, commercial and municipal landscaping solutions, playground surfacing and has a complete range of golf and tennis products. FieldTurf synthetic turf customers enjoy the benefits of significantly reduced water consumption, the elimination of fertilizer and pesticides, superior durability and drainage and a product that looks and feels real. The positive environmental impact of FieldTurf provides the added benefit of LEED building contributions.

FieldTurf is part of Tarkett Sports, a Division of the Tarkett Group. Tarkett Sports is the largest entity in the sports and landscape surfacing industries. Included within the Tarkett Sports portfolio is an impressive range of performance sports flooring products. This product range includes: synthetic and hardwood basketball; volleyball and gymnasium flooring; squash and racquetball courts; floor protection and covering systems; weight room flooring; and high performance indoor and outdoor running tracks, featuring Beynon and Atlas track surfaces. All Tarkett Sports surfaces are developed, produced and installed with a concentration on sustainability and a commitment to protecting the environment, providing additional LEED contribution opportunities for customers. The company calls this focus on sustainability and the environment ‘Environmental Intelligence’ and all company personnel strive to exemplify this philosophy in all aspects of the business.

For more information, please visit www.fieldturf.com or call at 1-800-724-2969.